The Hellions
by ObviouslyDesperate
Summary: My first MWPP era fic. I hope you enjoy. New teachers, fun gals, and complications surrounding all of it (no evil attatched, no! Sarcasm)OOO! You know you want to read it, you can't deny it...Sorry I'm awful at summaries. Chapter titles are bands like
1. Alkaline Trio

Alright, This is my first attempt at a MWPP story by myself. Mal says it's good, but of course she's also read the other two chapters which I have already written. My stories are all kind of like that, they get exponentially better. Well, I hope you enjoy this one.  
  
Part 1-  
  
"LILY EVANS!" Her name echoed throughout Hogwarts' hallowed halls. The sound that emitted out of Marcus Finnigan's mouth came from so far down the corridor that if it hadn't echoed she might not have heard it. She wheeled around with his parchment roll in her hands and flung it in the air. It unwound quickly and floated down to earth and laid flat down on the floor. Marcus sped up with horror in his eyes as the answers to the Muggle studies test laid open for all the passing students to see. He saw none of his fellow fifth years nearby who would benefit from his torture. He quickly grabbed the parchment and stared angrily at Lily who was running backwards down the hall. She waved slyly at her easily tormented friend.  
  
When he was out of sight she turned around and went back to her normal pace. Lily pulled a black elastic band out of her purse. She bent her head down and lifted thick masses of red hair into it. As she did so she got a whiff of something not so pleasant. She looked up and all three doors on he right side of the hallway slung open and out, poured students who had just made their way into class. Most of them were hurrying out but three were sauntering slowly out of professor Younce's potions class.  
  
They tried to walk past her inconspicuously but Lily grabbed the arm of Reumus Lupin (who was closest to her). Her long, pale fingers went almost all the way around his forearm. "What'd you Hellions do this time?" She asked suspiciously.   
  
"Well, a pleasent 'hello' would have done fine as well, Lily." Reumus said to her. They turned to talk directly to one another.   
  
"Hellions," James Potter said as he was deep in thought regarding the subject. "I like the sound of that. PETER!" He called out for the tagalong of the group. But Peter Petigrew was nowhere to be found.  
  
"What do you want Mousy for?" Sirius Black asked like it pained him to think of the short rodent-looking boy.  
  
"Mousy?" Lily asked.  
  
"We're still working on our aliases." James said. Lily made a sound of revelation and turned quickly back to Reumus. It wasn't a difficult task to look into Reumus Lupin's face. He was handsome. 'Like, Movie star handsome' as Sharon Burbank had once said of him. He was, with dark hair and skin and a smile to bedazzle the most weak-kneed, pathetic, swooning girl he could find. He seemed like the 'strong, silent, type' if you didn't know him. He and his group of friends were anything but silent.   
  
"So, what'd you do?" She asked with glee.  
  
"You make it seem like we're criminals or something, Lil." He said with a facade of suprise.   
  
"Or something." She said and rolled her eyes.  
  
"We're the criminals? At least we made it on time to class!" James said jokingly and pushed his silver glasses up his nose. She pushed him at his shoulder and laughed. Professor Younce called for the students to come back to class and Lily reluctantly went with the crowd of solemn students into their respective classes.  
  
A big vat of blue liquid simmered next to the short, bald man's desk. Although undesirable in looks, it mad the room smell nice and did it's best to mask the putrid smell of dung bombs (Which Lily knew all along was the crime the four had committed).  
  
"Ms. Evans, Mr. Solomon, have the two of you completed your potion?" Asked Younce from his desk. He didn't bother to look up from his role sheet. Lily's look of panic mimicked exactly that of Marcus' as she realized that the potion had been what she had forgotten to do that weekend.   
  
"Dammit." She said under her breath. She quickly looked across the room at Jakob Solomon, who was sitting with his fellow Hufflepuffs. Jakob was pulling viles out of his bag reluctantly and sitting them on the counter top slowly. Lily breathed a sigh of relief as she recognized the disgusting green color of scar treating potion.  
  
"Well, Evans, Solomon?" Jakob stood up just as Lily did and handed the jar to him. "Do you both agree that you worked on this together and that it is correct to your knowledge?" He said his usual speech every time a homework assignment was turned in. Lily looked over into Jakob's big brown eyes and she saw his cheeks grow as he smiled.  
  
"Yes, Professor." He said. Lily closed her eyes and concurred with him. Younce took it and went on with the day's lesson. Lily spent the class writing a thank you note to Jakob. After class she found him and gave it to him with a smile.   
  
"Jiminy Christmas!" Lily said as she walked with James to the Great Hall. "I didn't even work a second on that project." She said.  
  
"The problem being?" He asked, obviously oblivious to the feeling of guilt.   
  
"You're a nut, you know that, James?"   
  
"And that's what you love about me." James said with a smile.  
  
"There's nothing to love about you." She said jokingly and shoved him into an oncoming first year.  
  
"Hey, Buddy!" James called out to the small girl. The first year girl turned to him like she was a deer in the headlights of an oncoming semi. "The Great Hall's that way." He offered to her. She smiled meekly and walked in the correct direction with out making eye contact with either of them. Lily smacked his arm and got his attention in a silent 'Ow'.  
  
"James, do you know who that is?!" She said at him, not to him.  
  
"Your mom?" He said in a half smile still nursing his arm.  
  
"Sara Anne Fudge!" She said in a whisper as not to alert her.   
  
"Who?"  
  
"The home secretary of Magic's daughter!" She said in an irritated tone.   
  
"So, who's the Home Secretary of Magic?" He asked.  
  
"Cornelius Fudge!" She said, she was still irritated. "Sometimes you're stupid, James."   
  
"And sometimes you know too much." He said and started jogging ahead of her. "Later, Lil." She waved as he walked off.   
  
"Lily!" Called someone from behind her. It was Sharon Burbank. Lily waved and waited for Sharon. "Well, Jesus Lily, hurry up! Chicken fingers!" She said as she walked quickly past her. Lily caught up with her and they walked side by side down the stairs to the great hall.  
  
"So, Lily, when did you make Marcus cry today, and what was it over?"  
  
"I didn't!" Lily said defensively.  
  
"Ok, so he wasn't crying but he was all fussed up when he came into professor Kurtz's class today. What'd ya do?"  
  
"Is Kurtz who he aids for in Muggle Studies?" Lily asked. Sharon nodded and Lily sucked in a smile. "I took the answers to a test in there from him and threw 'em all around the hallway."   
  
"LILY! That's so mean! He could get his grade dropped if anyone cheated off of that!"  
  
"I know, but come on! It was really funny!"  
  
"You're a Jerk." Sharon said condescendingly. They got to the Great Hall and walked toward the Gryffindor table. They sat down with their usual group of friends, Regan Alvarado, Ruth Marx, and Marcus Finnigan.  
  
"Hiya guys." Lily said and slid her legs under the table. She sat down next to Regan which had been a mistake.  
  
"Lily, have you been moisturizing like I showed you?" She asked and began to touch her cheeks. Lily sat quietly while Maria fiddled with her face but kept her eyes in an exaggerated blink to show her annoyance. "Lil? Have you?"  
  
"Oh yes Grand Mistress of Beauty." Lily said and shooed Regan's hands away from her face. Regan looked irritated at her. "Your Beautiful-ness, please pass the Dijon sauce." Lily said and cracked a smile.  
  
"If you would just listen to me, you'd thank me when you're old and not-so-gray!" Ragen said and handed the small porcelain dish to her friend. "When you moisturize properly, you won't get so dry now. Not being dry will mean that you won't rub your face continuously and that means less stress on your face and less stress equals... Lily, my hair is in the Dijon sauce." She said. Her odd conclusion to her monologue forced Lily too look down into the dish in her hands and pull out Regan's long black hair from its sticky trap.  
  
"Sorry, Ragen." Lily said. Ragen rolled her yes and looked across the table at Marcus who was working on his homework, as usual.  
"Marcus, give it a rest. Jesus." She said and plucked the quill out of his hand.  
  
"Hey!" He said, realizing he was being spoken to. "I need that."  
  
"For what?" Ruth asked sitting next to him.   
  
"I'm writing up a new draft of the Bible to include a section on bologna. My homework, stupid." He said and took the quill back from Ragen.  
  
"Exactly, something that could be done tomorrow." She said and took it back from him.   
"I don't know why I hang out with you four." He said angrily and searched his bag for another quill. Maria twirled it in her fingers like a baton.  
  
"Because, it's the only way anyone will believe you're not gay." Sharon said from behind her glass of pumpkin juice.  
  
"No, no, I believe hanging out with a group of beautiful girls and him not being all flirtatious makes him all the more a candidate for homosexuality." Ruth said and poked him in the side, making him twist in some odd directions. Ruth had a crush on Marcus that she would never admit. To anyone. She tryed to keep it a secret, but the only one in the dark about her pining away for him was Marcus.  
  
"You have got to be the funniest person alive, you know that, Ruth?" Ruth smiled and nodded at him. "Sarcasm is just one of the many services we offer." He said like a business associate.   
  
"Ruthie!" Called a loud voice from seemingly nowhere. The entire hall turned to the big entrance doors and there stood a short woman with light brown hair past her shoulders that laid on top of dark red robes. She got closer and Lily could see she was one of the most beautiful women she'd ever seen in her life. Ruth grumbled under her breath when she realized who the woman was.  
  
"Ruthtie!" The woman repeated. "It's me, Aunt Sylvia!" She said and started running towards the Gryffindor table. Ruth put on a fake smile and looked up at her Aunt.  
  
"Aunt Sylvia, what are you doing here?" She asked. But it was obvious she wasn't happy to see her.  
  
"Oh wonderful news, I'm teaching here now." Ruth's jaw dropped.  
  
"What?" She said dully.  
  
"Oh yes I've taken the Defense Against the Dark Arts job here. The Gryffindor table was staring down to the end where they were and ogling at the tall woman. Sylvia hugged Ruth vigorously and Lily realized that Ruth didn't look much like her aunt. She had the same light hair and tan skin. But Ruth's nose was somewhat bigger then Sylvia's and Ruth's eyes were brown not a dazzling maroon. When their embrace finally ended, Sylvia asked to be introduced to Ruth's friends.  
  
"Yeah, this is Ragen Alvarado, Marcus Finnigan, Sharon Burbank, and Lily Evans." She said showing each of us in turn.  
  
"Oh it's a pleasure to meet you all." She said with sheer glee in her voice. Ruth grumbled again and Sharon looked at her sympathetically. "What's the matter, Sweetie?" Ruth looked up at her aunt who was hovering over the table casting a shadow on Ruth.  
  
"Um, spicy Dijon sauce." She said pointing to the dish.  
  
"Oh well, just drink some water and you'll be fine." She said and gave her niece a pat on the back. "I'll be seeing you girls tomorrow! That's when I start class!" She said and gave Ruth a kiss on the head. "Tootles!" She shouted energetically and walked out of the Hall with every male student eye on her.  
  
"Yippee friken skippy." Ruth said and plopped her head into her arms.  
  
"What's wrong, Ruthie?" Lily said mockingly, a smile curving on her face.  
  
"If you ever EVER call me that again..."  
  
"I was talking to Marcus." Lily said jokingly. "Seriously, Ruth, what's your matter?"  
  
"My aunt, yeah, she's nuts."   
  
"She seems a little eccentric." Marcus said and tucked a strand of his shaggy brown hair behind his ear.  
  
"A little? The woman calls me Ruthie!" While Ruth lamented on and on about her aunt's newest occupation, a little bit down the table, Reumus, James, Sirius and Peter were talking.  
  
"Ok, so back to business." James said bringing attention back to the matter at hand. "What are we going to call ourselves? I've got, The Misfits, The Ragamuffins, The Hellions, The Maradauers, The Hooligans, The Pranksters, but that last one is kinda weak."  
  
"That's the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen." Sirius said as he stared at the door that the woman had just walked out of, hoping she'd come back.   
  
"A little out of your league." Reumus said and patted Sirius on the hand.   
  
"What do you mean by that." Sirius said and turned to Reumus, like he was coming out of a trance.  
  
"I mean, she's a teacher, not a student, you haven't got a chance."  
  
"Oh but I'm sure you do."  
  
"I didn't mean that." Reumus said and rolled his eyes.  
  
"She's so hot." Sirius said dreamily.  
  
"Ahem!" James cleared his throat asking for attention.  
  
"Blah Blah Blah." Sirius said trying to block out James.  
  
"Seriously guys, James is trying to talk." Peter squeaked timidly.  
  
"Shut up." Sirius shoved the boy into Leslie Townsend, who bumped into Ryan Yearly who knocked a chicken finger loaded with catsup into the lap of Taylor O'Brien, a fourth year girl who Peter had an immense crush on. She stood still in a moment of shock, staring down at the mess in her lap before she bent over the table and down at Peter. She scowled at him angrily and Ryan started wiping up the catsup in her lap with a handkerchief.  
  
"Sorry, Taylor." He said and started blushing hard and dark deep red.  
  
"Stop it Peter. Just, just, stop." She said and pointed her wand in her lap trying to remove the stain.  
  
"I really like the Hellions." James said changing the subject.  
  
"Why are you so obsessed about having a legacy?" Sirius asked. "That's all you think about, all day."  
  
"That's not true." James said defensively  
  
"Who are we playing in the Quidditch game tomorrow?" Sirius asked in an attempt to prove his point.  
  
"Slytherin." James said, rather sure of himself. Sirius shook his head. "Hufflepuff?" He said a little less positive on the subject. Sirius and Reumus looked at each other. They smiled and shook their heads in unison. "Well, Ravenclaw then. I guess I just wasn't listening in practice yester..." But James was cut off by Reumus.  
  
"Tomorrow's Tuesday, we only have games on Saturdays." He said.  
  
"Oh, right." James trailed off and looked back into his chips {A/N: Ya know, French fries, tee hee, I feel so, ya know, with the hip swingin British scene! Not really just kidding}  
  
"You're a loser, James." Reumus said spooned some catsup onto his plate.   
  
"Sorry if I want us to be remembered. It's not like we can guarantee we'll do anything with our lives after Hogwarts."  
  
"I'm going to." Sirius said. "I'm going to be an Auror." He said with a smile. "And if I ever find that slimy git He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named..." He said and violently twisted his fists representing his rage toward Voldemort.   
  
"If you can't even say the man's name, how are you going to..." Reumus said and mimicked his burly friend's actions. 


	2. The Cure

As I said in the previous chapter, It get's better. This chapter is kind of a digression, admittedly, but I do like the third chapter. It's kind of a switch. My, my teasing the readers, how impolite of me! (Hah the readers, all TWO of you... thanks for reading though.)  
  
Part 2-  
Ragen pulled her jeans up her legs and buttoned them around her waist. She grabbed her robe and flung it over her shoulders. She admired herself in the mirror and then decided she needed a belt. She walked to her trunk and started digging through it for her brown belt. Ragen realized she couldn't find it.  
  
"Lil, have you seen my belt?" She asked, still looking into the trunk with her hands on her hips. When there was no response except the drone of Trina Oliver complaining about how she wished she was in Ravenclaw with her boyfriend. Ragen looked up without moving her head and shifted her eyes over to the bed next to hers. Lily was sprawled out on her bed with her clothes rumpled and her sheet covering up her body, the comforter laying in it's usual position, in a pile on the floor. "Lil, come on, get up." She said and poked her in the side.  
  
"No Mommy, I don't want to dance in the rain with you my Karma's fine." She mumbled in a half-dream state. Ragen raised and eyebrow and shook her head. She picked up her pillow off the floor and raised it above her head. She beat Lily in the head with it and Lily swat at her with her hands.  
  
"You and your Karma are going to be late for breakfast." She said and Lily grabbed the pillow from her and mashed it on her face.   
  
"Ragen, all Mudbloods are that lazy." Said a cruel voice of Vanessa Malfoy. She stood by her bed twirling a string of pearls around her index finger and staring at them spacily. Lily stopped putting pressure on the pillow and sighed into it. Ragen turned around abruptly and squinted at her.  
  
"Vanessa, you are the only person in the entire House to think like that. The only person to be that closed minded, that inconsiderate, that..."  
  
"Someone has to be outspoken here." She said and dropped the pearls on the top of her robes. "If I'm going to have to be a Gryffin-dork, I'm not going to be nice to the scum that's in here."  
  
"If ANYONE, anyone at all is scum, it's you and your bigot attitude!" Trina said. Vanessa looked at her menacingly and headed towards the door.  
  
"You know, you really don't have room to talk, Oliver. All you go on about day and night is Westly Longbottom, Mr. King Ravenclaw." She said. Trina glared at her but then smiled.  
  
"Go eat with your lover, I mean brother..." She said, still smiling.  
  
"Disgusting." She mumbled and left. Vanessa was put in the Gryffindor house in their first year by the Sorting Hat, much to the disgust to everyone involved. Lucius Malfoy, her older brother was always trying to contest the decision made four years prior. She was always giving Lily a hard time because of her lineage. Lily looked into the darkness behind her pillow and then felt the air rush behind her ears as Ragen pulled the pillow away from her face. She looked at her sympathetically. Ragen pulled up on Lily's wrists and sat her up on the edge of her bed.  
  
Ragen seemed like she was about to say something comforting to Lily but, then the toilet flushed and Ruth came out of the bathroom. She was always very chipper in the mornings and came skipping into the bedroom. Lily followed her with her eyes disgustingly.  
  
"Do you know to what extent I hate you?" Lily growled at Ruth as she put her shoes on. Ruth crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at Lily's comment and started jumping on the bed. Trina laughed at them and headed out the door to the Great Hall.  
  
"I'll go get Sharon." Ruth said and bounded off the bed when no laughs were received from Lily and Ragen. She walked out the door and left the two girls alone to discuss what ever boring news they always had to discuss.  
  
She passed the Head Girl, Emily Adams who grabbed her at the shoulder and told her that she needed to be at breakfast in ten minutes and she didn't have her robes on. Ruth also made a point to note that Emily's tie was uneven. She knocked on the sixth year girls dorm and then made her way inside to find Sharon. Whitney Harrison smiled jovially at her as she came in and Ruth asked where Sharon was. Whitney informed her that she was still getting ready. Ruth went into the bathroom and saw Sharon messing with her short blonde hair and staring right into the mirror with anguish.  
  
"I still don't know how you can take so long to get ready when your hair is so frieken short." Ruth said and stood next to her in front of the mirror. She tugged at the loose, light brown, hair at the end of her twin braids on either sides of her face. Sharon sighed and flattened the tops of her hair and wiped the excess eye makeup out from under her eyes.  
  
"The reason," Sharon began "I cut my hair this short was so I didn't have to do anything with it and then this whole long hair trend came about and I'm stuck like this." She said and stuck out her tongue and bit it as a sign of her disgust. Ruth jumped on the counter and swung her feet, kicking the cabinets below. Sharon grumbled and headed out of the bathroom. The two of them went towards the fifth year dormitory to get Ragen and Lily and passed Emily. She was looking down at her watch impatiently and when the two of them came in sight she raised her flat hand and still looked at her watch.  
  
"Eight minuets until breakfast and you are still not in your robes, Ruth." She said and looked down her sharp, pale nose at her. Her waist length blonde hair was down and had two semi-thick twists at her temples. She always looked like that, angry with a twist in her hair.  
  
"Em, you've been Head Girl, what, a month and you're already trying to be a dictator?" Sharon said and threw an arm over her shoulder. The two walked a few feet and then Emily stopped in her tracks and wheeled on her heels to Ruth. Sharon put her hands on her hips and looked at Emily irritably.   
  
"Seven minuets, and it takes at least that to get down there!" Emily warned.  
  
"Then you better get going, huh?" Ruth said with a smirk and jogged to the dormitory. Sharon rolled her eyes with a shrug and followed suit. Lily and Ragen were already in the Common Room when Ruth and Sharon realized they weren't in the dorm. Marcus was almost sleeping in an armchair in front of a chess game between James and Sirius. Sirius was winning as he usually did. Sirius looked up when Sharon came in the room and knocked over a pawn. James dropped his shoulders and looked at him with his head tilted. He attempted to get his friend's attention but he was up and over to Sharon very quickly.  
  
"Hey, how's it hangin?" He asked and hooked arms with her. She looked down at his arm in the crook of her elbow and then at his face. He got the hint and took it out. "I guess it's a little low..."  
  
"Shut up, you perv." She said and rolled her eyes. "Come on, Emily is gonna have a conniption if we don't get to breakfast on time. What will Dumbledore think of her leadership skills? Gasp!" She said sarcastically and raised a hand to her lips. "James who are we playing Saturday?" She asked. He looked over at Reumus and then back at Sharon.  
  
"Hufflepuff." He said haughtily. Sharon smiled, content with that information and they all went towards the portrait hole.   
  
After breakfast they went their separate ways. Lily, Ruth, James, Sirius, Reumus, and Peter heading to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Sharon to Care of Magical Creatures, and Ragen and Marcus to Muggle Studies. Lily and Ruth entered in the classroom chattering ferociously but were interrupted by a loud, high-pitched squeal from the front of the room. The whole classroom looked to the desk and followed the new Professor in the shimmery blue robes with their eyes to the doorway where Lily and Ruth stood. She squeezed Ruth in a big, happy hug and let go with a beaming smile.  
  
"Ruthie, I'm so excited about this arrangement! I think we'll have a super time!" She said and scrunched her shoulders up to her neck in happiness.  
  
"Super." Ruth said with an unconvincing smile that her aunt didn't take as a hint of her distaste. She headed to their seats at the desks in the second row and folded one leg under the other as they sat down. "Lily, I'm going to die a slow, painful, lonely death of embarrassment because of this woman!" She said and opened up her book with her lips sticking out and her eyebrows dropped.  
  
"If the death is lonely, how embarrassing can it really be, Ruth?" Lily pointed out and looked over at her.  
  
"Point taken, BUT the fact still remains that the woman is going to make this year hell for me." Ruth said and shook her head. Suddenly, Sirius came running up to his seat in the raised level behind her. He tapped on Ruth's shoulder almost violently. "What, what! Oh, Jesus Sirius what do you need!"  
  
"How do you know the Professor?" He asked intently, crossing his hands in and leaning on his arms. His neck, almost resting on her shoulder.  
  
"She's my aunt, sad to say." She said. Sirius seemed in a state of happiness after hearing this. Sylvia knocked on the pedestal she stood at with her wand and smiled at Ruth while the class came to attention.  
  
"Oh, goodness! How are you all? I'm Professor Perkins." She said with a small, wiggly wave. "I'm so excited to be teaching at Hogwarts, I went here myself in my youth. I think it's just so special! Now, we're already a month behind so let's get started! Um, yes?" She said when a hand raised on the Slytherin side of the room. It was Narcissa Walters, Vanessa's best friend.  
  
"We've already completed the first three chapters of the book, Professor." She pointed out. Professor Perkins made an 'O' with her lips and then morphed it back into the bright smile. It was almost painful to watch her smile that much. 


	3. Less Than Jake

Part 3-  
  
Lily fell asleep to the rain beating on the roof. Her head in her pillow and a little bit of drool coming from her open mouth she kicked her legs in the bed as she ran throught he Forbidden forest in her dream. She didn't know what was behind her but she kept running. It kept making a clicking noise, like something tapping something else. Lily realized it wasn't in her dream that she heard the tapping when the forest faded away and all she saw was the inside of her eyelids.   
  
Grumbling, she threw her legs over her bed and opened her eyes sleepily. The tapping continued and she turned in the dark room, only lit by the moon, to figure it out. She checked the faucet for a leak, but that wasn't it. She looked for Trina's cat, Biddle, he was asleep. She then turned around to the window. There was a rock, falling from the window and then, moments later, it came back and hit the window again. Lily shuffled slowly to it and looked out at the rain drenched grounds. Then the rock hit the window again and she looked down, there stood James.  
  
As extremely confusing as it was she pushed the glass window open and the volume of the rain went up so loud, she thought she might have waken her dorm-mates. She hadn't. After turning from them to the outside she saw James, straining his neck and looking up at her. He smiled.  
  
"James!" Lily called as loud as she could without waking them up. The back of her head getting soaked. He waved. "James, it's raining." She said and he nodded.  
  
"I know." He shouted.  
  
"I know you know, but why are you out in the rain?" She said.  
  
"I needed to talk to you and I couldn't come into the girls dorm." The reason he wasn't aloud in the girls dorm was because two weeks before, Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, had set a password on the door to both the girls and boys dorm in the Gryffindor tower. This was because Nigela Parsons had snuck into Quincy Matthew's dormitory and the two had, well, I'm sure you know. Not wanting any pregnant students on their hands, Professor Dumbledore put the passoword in the Gryffindor dorm sides. He might have done so for the other houses, but Lily did not know.  
  
"Why?" Lily asked.  
  
"Meet me in Kent's classroom!" He shouted and ran away.  
  
Lily watched him run until he was out of sight behind the next tower. Lily shook her head and grabbed her lantern. She wasn't accustomed to sneaking around. She'd done it before, but no more than twice. It was difficult and Lily wasn't quite sure if she wanted to go. She most certainly didn't understand why James had beat on her window in the rain for God knows how long. Lily came down the stairs muttering to herself that if James Potter got her into trouble she would kick him in the groin.  
  
"You oughten't be so loud." Murmered a painting. Lily waved him off, irritated, and went back to her thoughts, biting her thumb.  
  
"Get that thing out of your mouth." She heard. Wheeling around, there stood James, soaked from head to toe, utterly joyous. A smile beaming from his wet face and his bright eyes shinging from behind his glasses that were speckled with water. Lily quickly removed her thumb from her mouth and stuck it in her pocket and pretended to ignore his comment.  
  
"What do you want?" She asked leaning against the door, which she now realized was to Professor Kent's classroom (as James had asked of her).  
  
"I'm having family issues." He said, his smile fading a little. "Let's go in here." He said and moved his hand to the doorknob. Lily jumped back when his hand came near hers and he looked up at her with confusion. "Just opening the door..." He said and walked on in. Lily cursed herself mentally and followed suit.  
  
"Alright, Lil, how are you?" He asked and sat on the floor. Lily looked down at him like he was crazy and he patted the floor across from him, calling her to sit down.  
  
"I'm cold, tired, and not about to sit on the floor." She said and grabbed the nearest chair and sat it in the spot James had indicated. He rolled his eyes and looked up at her.  
  
"Lily, I wanted to talk to you. I know you and I aren't very good friends, but I like you. I think you're a really nice girl and I feel like I can trust you. But I'm having familial problems and I just was needing someone to talk to. If you're that tired you can go on back to bed." He said sympathetically, like he was now here to help her. She cracked a smile and looked down at him.  
  
"What's the trouble?" She asked and leaned down, resting her elbows on her knees.  
  
"It's weird. My dad, he's well, everyone knows my dad. Thomas Potter. He's done everything and well, I feel like I have to live up to that." He shrugged a little but went on, uncomfortably tugging at his shoelace. "And he's not helping with this idea I have. He's always asking me about my training in Quidditch and how he thinks Frank Fodsworth has no idea how to captain a Quidditch team. Then he asks me about school and gives these backhanded compliments like 'It's amazing how much work you can do without trying.' And soon it's going to be Christmas." He said. Lily stopped him.  
  
"It's October, James." She said.  
  
"I know, but it's soon enough. By November they'll have planned for me to come home for the break. I really don't want to because I don't like home. Home and I don't get along." He said and shook his head.  
  
"Well, what about your mother?"  
  
"Mom? She's no better. She just sits back and sighs everytime I ask to do something that sounds fun. 'Mom, can I got to Sirius's house a little while?' 'Oh, I suppose.' I suppose. Hah! It sounds to me like I'm bothering her to even speak, let alone ask to do something." Lily was astonished at how much he was opening up to her. It was crazy.  
  
"Lily, I'm trusting that you won't tell anyone about this." He said suddenly. Lily nodded.  
  
"I wouldn't. This is private." By then Lily was on the floor, sitting next to him, listening and caring.  
  
"I mean, it's stupid, right? That I care so much what my parents say and do?" Lily shook her head. "I'm glad you see it that way. I'm really glad we're doing this." She smiled at him.  
  
Then, something totally unexpected happened. Professor Kent came in the door with a stack of papers, humming a tune. Bobbing his bald head, and adjusting his glasses he read his papers without looking up. Lily and James sat stunned on the middle of the floor, in clear sight of their Arthrimancy teacher, but just stayed still. He sat at his desk and turned on a light. The shadow, cast from the lamp, of Lily and James on the floor got his attention.  
  
"What in the name of Merlin do you two think you are doing?!" He shouted and shot up out of his chair. He came around his desk and just stared, flabberghasted, waiting for a response. Neither one could think of an excuse for why they were sprawled on the floor together. James hopped up off the floor in suprise and stammered, trying to think of an excuse. Professor Kent leaned on his knuckles on his desk and peered down at them over his glasses.  
  
"Evans!? What? Potter, go see the headmaster now!"  
  
"But it's not what it looks like." She fumbled with her legs as she tried to push herself off the floor. Kent kept glowering at them menacingly.  
  
"Both of you go-"  
  
"Professor, I swear, it's nothing!" Lily pleaded, tears welling up in her eyes, she'd never felt like she was in so much trouble before. James stood in the open space between the door and Lily, watching her face and arms turn red with anger and fear.  
  
Kent looked into her face, (not at her) and stared for a moment, his bald spot shining in the moon light. His gaze went sharply to James. The three stood silently, two waiting for the other to cast his verdict.  
  
"Detention, next Friday. No need to tell the headmaster why, but yes, definetely detention for being out past curfew." Lily breathed a sigh of relief and wiped a big tear from under her eye that the other occupants of the room hadn't noticed. "Go on to bed, now." He beckoned and the two left, walking down the hall in a hurry, but silently.  
  
As they ascended the stairs to the floor above Kent's classroom James started laughing and slapped Lily on the back.  
  
"What the hell was that?" She asked, in complete shock.  
  
"Good job, with the crying and stuff." He said. Apparently, her tears hadn't gone unnoticed.  
  
"That wasn't fake if that's what you're insinuating." Lily stood and crossed her arms across her chest.  
  
"Oh." He said, feeling like a complete heel, he ground his foot into the floor and looked up at her apologetically. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."  
  
"Yeah, well, James." She said, at a loss for words. "I don't get into trouble." They started walking again. "I'm just trying to keep myself from-"  
  
"It's ok, you don't have to explain it." He said and smiled at her. "Why would anyone WANT to get in trouble. That's the most idiotic thing I can imagine. Although, I could see Sirius trying to get some extra hours with Professor Perkins." He said with a mutual laugh between the two.  
  
"Don't let Ruth hear that."  
  
"She REALLY doesn't like her aunt does she?"  
  
"I don't know, Ruth's a kook."  
  
"I think she's a nice girl." They were at the portrait hole.  
  
"She is." Lily said, nothing much else to say in response. James told the Fat Lady the password and she swung open her door. Lily stood back and waited for James to go. They both stood there momentarily and then James smiled a little.  
  
"Go ahead, ladies first." He said. She blushed a little and went through the hole.  
  
"You know what I think?" Lily whispered behind her to James. "I think that the whole 'ladies first' thing is just a way for guys to look at a girl's butt." They laughed together and then James stopped laughing suddenly.  
  
"I wasn't trying to do that." He said.  
  
"I didn't think you were." She reassured. They were in the common room now, the fire's glow warmed James up. He was still in his wet clothes.   
  
"Thanks for letting me bounce off you." He said.  
  
"Oh, it's nothing." She replyed. An akward silence mingled in the air and finally Lily waved and bid him good-night. They went to their respective dorms, each thanking any deity they could think of that no one else knew.  
  
{A/N: Knew what? I know that's what you're thinking. I couldn't figure out a way to literarilly word it but I figured hey! you'll read the author's notes. No one knew about what had happened in professor Kent's room or else everyone would think 'oh lily and james are having a secret love affair'. they aren't...yet BWAHAHAHAHA} 


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